Survey on Memberships
- Thread starter warfelg
- Start date
Sorry but hate to tell them but tourism in the Williamsburg area is down overall. CW itself cites over the last several quarters falling attendance, they have attempted to make up for this by raising prices to no avail.
SEAS on their own as a company is falling further and further behind their competition, raising prices on the level of a Disney Jr. won't help the perception of getting more people through the gate, it will have the opposite effect in many long time pass holders bailing, myself included.
When I look at KD with a 2018 pass of $12 and $22/mo respectively or the litany of Disney options they are passing savings onto DVC members over the last 18+ months even while building Avatar and Star Wars lands up to as much as 42% on one AP alone, the clear choice is to reallocate BG money elsewhere.
A bit off-topic but overall when looking at the grand scheme of things, they need to look at their own house and everyone else house around them. When Disney is willing to shove discounts, that alone should be an indicator now isn't the time to hike up prices double or triple in some cases, but smaller incremental increases over time are more appropriate and it laughable at best they would have the audacity to even ask such foolishness as this in the current climate.
Just my opinion.
SEAS on their own as a company is falling further and further behind their competition, raising prices on the level of a Disney Jr. won't help the perception of getting more people through the gate, it will have the opposite effect in many long time pass holders bailing, myself included.
When I look at KD with a 2018 pass of $12 and $22/mo respectively or the litany of Disney options they are passing savings onto DVC members over the last 18+ months even while building Avatar and Star Wars lands up to as much as 42% on one AP alone, the clear choice is to reallocate BG money elsewhere.
A bit off-topic but overall when looking at the grand scheme of things, they need to look at their own house and everyone else house around them. When Disney is willing to shove discounts, that alone should be an indicator now isn't the time to hike up prices double or triple in some cases, but smaller incremental increases over time are more appropriate and it laughable at best they would have the audacity to even ask such foolishness as this in the current climate.
Just my opinion.
acrossdapark said:
Amen. If something was coming with the raises that would be one thing. But I feel like I have less, not more. Before anyone mentions Battle for Eire, we seem to have lost DK. A wash at best. Punctuated currently by less dining options and lights for CT plus the tier tickets turning low days into hell days. I'm feeling VERY sore about the CT price increase vs return in experience and satisfaction. Our 4 plus visits quickly became 2 this year. Unless something seems brighter next year, there will be no 2018 CT for us. I have better use for my money that is more fun and less stressful. I'm with acrossdapark.
We cancelled our 4 platinum passes this year. The customer service at the park had really gone downhill and we felt like each time we went, we got less and less enjoyment. We instead decided to buy annual passes for Disney. Disney is much more expensive but I can see that Disney is investing in the future of their parks. I don't get the same feeling from BG. I also know that Disney customer service has been great for us.
Another thing, even though we are from Norther VA, a BGW weekend is still pretty expensive considering a somewhat okay hotel will run you 120-170 a night and has zero theming. Then add to that the cost of mostly bad food. We finally decided we would get more out of a Disney vacation than to continue dumping our hard earned money into a park that, to us, no longer seemed to care about our experience.
I want to like BGW. I really do.
Another thing, even though we are from Norther VA, a BGW weekend is still pretty expensive considering a somewhat okay hotel will run you 120-170 a night and has zero theming. Then add to that the cost of mostly bad food. We finally decided we would get more out of a Disney vacation than to continue dumping our hard earned money into a park that, to us, no longer seemed to care about our experience.
I want to like BGW. I really do.
Not to make too much of it, but I assume you have been to Disney semi-recently and therefore understand the ravaging maelstrom of logistical complexity into which you will be parachuting when you spend any substantial amount of time there.
Despite light crowds and visits to literally everything we wanted to see/do at Disney, we came away last year with the unmistakable conclusion that it wasn't actually enjoyable. Maybe it's because the last thing we want on vacation is a daily pre-programmed marionette march that has to be planned months in advance in order to justify the notably high cost. But even our daughters, princess fans and amusement ride junkies both, were fully over it by about day 4. No desire to return in the foreseeable future.
Disney certainly seems to care about gestures large and small, but the overall guest experience isn't actually all that great IMO. I've been to the Disneyplex 4 times over the years and each time it has actually seemed to get worse, even as the scale and variety of experiences has grown. Seems to me that Disney operations are overeager victims of their own success, doing everything they can to accommodate the crush of humanity they continually invite to fall upon them.
Many, many millions of people seem to disagree with the above. I can't see how they find it pleasant, so much as mandatory, but there are more of them than there are of me, so obviously they're finding something we didn't. More power to them, and to you, for finding a personal "happy place" there.
Also, Disney food gave my wife massive food poisoning within 3 days of arriving. Even when it didn't make anyone violently ill, it wasn't exactly gourmet. It's notably better than other theme park food, I'll give it that.
Can't disagree with the BGW assessment. This may be the first year in a long time that we don't go to BGW at all. While I'm not necessarily at a breaking point over customer service and IMO the value is actually very easy to demonstrate, the park experience has mildly eroded annually over the past 6-7 years, and modest "big-ride" installations plus improvements to shows don't quite fill in for what seems to be missing. I think absence will make the heart grow fonder, if we turn our regular June vacation away from W-burg and toward Shenandoah or Sedona for a year or two.
Nobody ever pulls me aside to take a survey, so I never get to express any of this to people who want to know.
Despite light crowds and visits to literally everything we wanted to see/do at Disney, we came away last year with the unmistakable conclusion that it wasn't actually enjoyable. Maybe it's because the last thing we want on vacation is a daily pre-programmed marionette march that has to be planned months in advance in order to justify the notably high cost. But even our daughters, princess fans and amusement ride junkies both, were fully over it by about day 4. No desire to return in the foreseeable future.
Disney certainly seems to care about gestures large and small, but the overall guest experience isn't actually all that great IMO. I've been to the Disneyplex 4 times over the years and each time it has actually seemed to get worse, even as the scale and variety of experiences has grown. Seems to me that Disney operations are overeager victims of their own success, doing everything they can to accommodate the crush of humanity they continually invite to fall upon them.
Many, many millions of people seem to disagree with the above. I can't see how they find it pleasant, so much as mandatory, but there are more of them than there are of me, so obviously they're finding something we didn't. More power to them, and to you, for finding a personal "happy place" there.
Also, Disney food gave my wife massive food poisoning within 3 days of arriving. Even when it didn't make anyone violently ill, it wasn't exactly gourmet. It's notably better than other theme park food, I'll give it that.
Can't disagree with the BGW assessment. This may be the first year in a long time that we don't go to BGW at all. While I'm not necessarily at a breaking point over customer service and IMO the value is actually very easy to demonstrate, the park experience has mildly eroded annually over the past 6-7 years, and modest "big-ride" installations plus improvements to shows don't quite fill in for what seems to be missing. I think absence will make the heart grow fonder, if we turn our regular June vacation away from W-burg and toward Shenandoah or Sedona for a year or two.
Nobody ever pulls me aside to take a survey, so I never get to express any of this to people who want to know.
halfabee said:
I would have to agree with this. I long for the days of Busch in the late 90s through the 2000s.
jpcommons said:
CS at the park has eroded to the point there is almost none, management changes both at the part itself and at the offices in Orlando have seen to this. Centralization of many of these services now being taken care of at the home office by employees who don't have any understanding at all of BGW, for example social media experiences and contacts are all but non-existent, cookie-cutter posts, or handled by part-time staff as seen by their job postings for $10/hour.
The only way now to evoke any substantial response from the park is to email management either at the park directly or in Orlando.
It would be nice if Merlins or someone bought them and made an investment in the parks however since Blackstone owns Merlins now, doubtful that will happen. On another note, already bought APs for Disney using my discounts, Pandora at AK and Flight of Passage is insane and if that's what's coming down the pipe for the future, and Battle of Eire is all SEAS has at this time, they need to get to the drawing board quickly.